Habits of the Heart

Category: Food

How to teach difficult topics in times of crisis

We are going through a crisis in Israel/ Palestine that could have global repercussions, if it is not contained, very soon. The scale, proportion and intensity of this “war” is unprecedented, with the situation on the ground changing day to day. These discussions (and similar ones) are likely to find their way into the class…

October 30, 2023
Travel, conversations and learning – How being part of conversations can shape your educational/ professional future

We often think of travel as movement. Physical movement to see people, places or attend events. But have you ever considered travel as a conversation? A conversation to enter a new space, a new way of thinking and new way of experiencing life? This is what I realized during my recent trips with my students.…

August 27, 2023
Raise and Rise – Funding sources for your startup in the era of digital transformation & blockchain – Victoria Silchenko, Ph.D. (Book Review)

Raise and Rise is a book that promises to “change your perspective on venture financing and possibly life,” as Victoria Silchenko promises. For those who don’t have the time to read through this review, and want a TLDR version of this review: Yes, she lives up to the promise. She offers a critical view of…

July 23, 2023
Top 6 things you should do, if you travel for adventure

Ever wondered what you should do, if you travel to an off- the path destination? I had similar thoughts as I planned my trip to Ecuador, a country that actually has pretty good travel infrastructure. However, given that we were going to be hiking and part of the trip was going to be in rural…

June 12, 2023
Why are most Afghans who are fleeing, going to neighboring countries?

Did you know that a majority of the refugees from the Middle East live in the region? Lebanon & Jordan host millions of people who have fled war, conflict or other disasters. There are an estimated 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon, for example. In Pakistan, the story is similar : about three million Afghans reside…

September 17, 2021
Does giving free money work?

One of my students in my Nonprofit Management class pointed out ‘Give a man a Fish’ by James Ferguson on the (controversial) idea of a universal basic income (UBI). This has been an ongoing debate in the world of development studies. The premise is simple : Give the poor enough money so they don’t have…

February 11, 2018
The trinity of nonprofit sector: Time to revisit some assumptions?

The trinity of transparency, accountability and efficiency are also at play in the world of public health. In the book Governing Global Health by Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar, that I am reading now, this theme comes up time and again. They both argue that among the various organizations that they have studied in the…

June 11, 2017
Can celebrity philanthropy be harmful?

Remember the ads in which Angelina Jolie comes out and shames the world for ignoring the plight of refugees? Or the Bono concert for helping AIDS victims? While each of them has done incredible good in the world, there is an argument out there; and it is a fairly strong one that goes like this:…

February 1, 2017
Are corporations going to save America?

With the recent Executive Order banning entry of people from seven Middle Eastern countries, the nation is in uproar. This order also includes refugees, who were fleeing violence and oppression in Syria, among other countries. The fact that several companies such as Lyft and Starbucks have stepped up and spoken out against this order is…

January 30, 2017
How to measure what matters : Nonprofit management 101

The nonprofit industry is obsessed with one thing : measurement. For those who do research or are involved in actual program delivery in the nonprofit sector, this desire to ‘measure spoons’ as Alnoor Ebrahim, a Harvard University professor calls it, can translate into a variety of things. There are a great many metrics that are…

June 7, 2016